Liquid and gas fuel metering valves have been used for a number of industrial turbine engine applications. For example, liquid fuel metering valves have been used in numerous marine applications.
In another case, gas fuel metering valves have been coupled with industrial turbine engines. For example, VG Series gas fuel metering valves such as the VG1.5, sold by Precision Engine Controls Corporation of San Diego, Calif., assignee of the present invention, have a balanced design with a single moving part. However, the gas flow path that extends through such valves deviates substantially from a linear flow path, requiring fuel to transit laterally around 90° lateral corners which reduces efficiency and performance.
Applications for such fuel metering valves are present in the power industry for generating electrical power with gas turbine engines, for implementation on offshore oil rigs for power generation, on turbine engines in marine applications such as on hovercraft, and in the pipeline industry for related gas turbine engine applications requiring precise fuel metering.
Many fuel metering techniques require the use of a Coriolis flow meter in combination with a metering valve. However, these flow meters are very expensive and cost-prohibitive, which restricts their adoption for many applications and uses.
Accordingly, improvements are needed to increase controllable flow accuracy and efficiency from a fuel metering valve to a gas turbine engine, and to reduce cost of implementation. Additionally, improvements are needed in order to easily reconfigure a fuel metering valve to optimize the accuracy and efficiency of fuel delivery over varying ranges of supply pressure. Even furthermore, improvements are needed in the manner in which a fuel metering valve is controlled in order to deliver a desired flow rate of fuel without requiring the utilization of a separate flow meter which can significantly increase cost and complexity.